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Celebrities Really Are Just Like Us

Admit it: When you hear a celebrity has struggled to get pregnant, has gone through IVF, used a gestational surrogate, or has suddenly popped out a pair of perfect twins, you feel a little better knowing you’re not alone in this fight against infertility.

Admit it: When you hear a celebrity has struggled to get pregnant, has gone through IVF, used a gestational surrogate or has suddenly popped out a pair of perfect twins, you feel a little better knowing you’re not alone in this fight against infertility.

Money might be able to buy you a beautiful baby nursery, but it can’t buy you a good ovarian reserve and unfortunately it can’t reverse the aging process, or the ability to conceive a child on your own. Though it can certainly help you get the best treatment from the best doctors, which we know can be quite costly—being famous has its perks.

I recently wrote an article for Parenting.com about celebrity moms who’ve battled infertility, just like us! It was not to celebrate their problems in the reproductive department, it was to recognize that infertility affects 7.3 million people in the U.S. alone, or 1 in 8 couples according to Resolve. Translation: It’s not uncommon. And infertility doesn’t discriminate between you and someone you idolize on TV.

I did a lot of research for the article, to pull together 14 celebrities who’ve gone public with their fertiltiy treatments and procedures, but there were two people who stood out the most, because of their willingness to be so honest and open, even under such an intense microscope of media attention: Nicole Kidman and Elizabeth Banks.

Watch this video interview with Nicole Kidman, with Australia’s 60 Minutes, which she conducted after her second daughter, Faith, with Keith Urban was born via a gestational carrier. It’s the most candid interview I’ve ever seen with her, where she reveals her own roller coaster ride with infertility—something she's been struggling with since her marriage to Tom Cruise. (Who knew?)

The most recent celeb to open up about infertility is Elizabeth Banks (Man on a Ledge, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, 30 Rock), who recently had son Felix, in 2011, also with the help of a gestational carrier. She speaks very candidly about her reason for choosing surrogacy. It moved me to tears.

You can read more about other celeb moms with infertility, and their personal journeys—some might actually surprise you. You might even notice a celeb or two missing from the list who you thought would be on it (i.e. women who've denied any treatments like IVF despite evidence to the contrary).

When you hear about a celebrity getting pregnant—or a celeb who has just adopted a baby, like Charlize Theron—with seemingly no problems, how does it make you feel?